Congress is sending President Donald Trump legislation to sign into law that would to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reimburses veterans for missed or underpaid Forever GI Bill housing benefits.

The Senate and House passed the Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies, to hold VA accountable for its failure to fully comply with reimbursement rates set by the Forever GI Bill.

“This legislative step is important to fulfilling the commitment we made to veterans. There’s simply no excuse for failing to fully deliver the housing benefits that student veterans are owed, which is why it was necessary to directly confront the VA’s errors and use our oversight to make certain they do not go uncorrected. I’m pleased this bill moved through Congress swiftly and look forward to the president signing it into law,” Boozman said. “I encourage any Arkansan who has been affected by this problem to reach out to my office so that we can ensure they get this fixed.”

“For many student veterans, every dime counts. That’s why the VA needs to get this right and pay student veterans the full amount of money they were promised,” said Schatz. “I’m glad this bill will soon become law, so we can make this right for our veterans.”

The VA should have used the Department of Defense’s 2018 Basic Allowance for Housing rates which should have been calculated based on the zip code where the student takes the majority of classes, rather than on the zip code in which the school’s main campus is located. Instead, some GI Bill recipients have been receiving housing stipends at the 2017 rate and based on the school’s zip code. In all cases, the 2018 rate is higher than the 2017 rate.

End improper payments as soon as possible;
Establish a team of specialists who will be responsible to report to Congress a detailed plan to correct this egregious error;
Provide a report to Congress by July 2020 that identifies how many beneficiaries were impacted and to what extent, aggregated by state; and
Certify the department is fully compliant with the law.